HEAVENLY PALACES AND SPACE JUNKS: CHINA’S QUIET SPACE REVOLUTION

Posted on April 8, 2018 by Norwich Radical in Inter|national and tagged Belt and Road, capitalism, Chang’e-5, china, Elon Musk, ESA, exploration, featured, Google, ISS, Mars, military, moon, NASA, Proxima, scifi, sf, space, space agency, Space X, Tiangong, UN, USA, Xi Jinping.

by Justin Reynolds

There was some apprehension as a Chinese ‘Heavenly Palace’ fell to Earth last week. The 8.5 tonne Tiangong-1 space station, adrift since China’s space agency lost connection with it two years ago, made an ‘uncontrolled’ re-entry into Earth’s atmosphere early on Easter Monday.

Fortunately there was never much cause for concern, the European Space Agency calculating the chances of being hit by debris as ’10 million times smaller than the yearly chance of being hit by lightning’. Most of the station burned up on contact with Earth’s atmosphere and the remaining fragments plunged into the South Pacific. But the episode had a eerie resonance, symbolising something of the West’s prevailing perception of China as an enigmatic, technologically advanced state, glowing with – rather like its wayward satellite – a nebulous sense of danger.Continue Reading

THE UNSPOKEN OCCUPATION

Posted on January 8, 2018 by Norwich Radical in Inter|national and tagged Africa, AFRICOM, al-Murabitun, al-Shabaab, Ansar al-Sharia, army, Boeing, boko haram, Burkina Faso, coltan, corporate, daesh, Djibouti, Drummond, Ethiopia, featured, Halliburton, Islamic Magreb, Kenya, military, neoliberalism, Niger, occupation, Raytheon, somalia, South Sudan, terrorism, the Lord’s Resistance Army, the Seychelles, US, war on terror, WEIRD, Yemen.

by Stu Lucy

With all the madness that has been taking place across the pond on a near daily basis since the 2016 inauguration of the comb-over-in-chief, it is all too easy to overlook many of the less sensational affairs carried out by the United States. While we are familiar with the war on terror, defined by US military occupation of significant areas of the Middle East for almost all of the 21st Century, there are areas of the world in which the US remain equally as active in this same regard, despite much less public awareness.

In October of last year, the Islamic State in the Greater Sahara attacked a small group of Nigerien and US soldiers in the Tonga Tonga region of Niger, killing three Americans and five Nigeriens. Although the incident was indeed broadcast by the mainstream media, the event represents a far greater issue developed on the continent: the increasing military presence of the US in Africa.Continue Reading

DEEPGREY (4)

Posted on November 14, 2017 by Norwich Radical in Arts and tagged adblocker, adware, bitcoin, Brexit, creative writing, creepypasta, cyberpunk, DDoS, DeepGrey, fiction, gaming, gender, hasthag, indoctrinated, internet, LinkedIn, meme wars, military, prose, ransomware, Russia, science fiction, scifi, SEO, serialised, sf, shitposting, singularity, social media, spam, specfic, speculative, suits, Ukraine, virtual reality, virus, writing, zombie capitalism.

by Zoe Harding

(Part 4 of a serialised prose fiction endeavour. Read part 1 here, part 2 here, part 3 here.)

1003

This thing that’s now installed on the brains of nearly three billion people, across pretty much all but the top levels of every single first-world government (and even then, one wonders if MPs have always been this weird and robotic – oddly, history would seem to confirm yes). What does it do?Continue Reading

THE LATEST NORTH KOREAN MISSILE TEST: A NEED FOR CHANGE IN U.S. GRAND STRATEGY IN THE REGION

Posted on August 29, 2017 by Norwich Radical in Inter|national and tagged china, cold war, Cuban crisis, diplomacy, Donald Trump, DPRK, fascism, Grand Strategy, Hiroshima, Japan, Juche, Kim Jong-Un, Korea, MAD, military, missile, missile test, Nagasaki, news, NHK, North Korea, nuclear war, response, sanctions, Shinzo Abe, strategy, The Long Peace, totalitarianism, US, USSR, Xi Jinping.

by Oliver Steward

The latest North Korean missile launch over Japan on the 28th August 2017 is a sign that North Korean leader Kim Jong-Un is willing to act unilaterally, despite what any other country may think or want the regime to behave according to international accords. This is obviously disturbing and only goes to show that the North Korean regime is totally defiant towards the international community, and sticking its middle finger up at the United States and the wider world.Continue Reading

M.A.D. CAN’T SAVE US NOW.

Posted on July 6, 2017 by Norwich Radical in Inter|national and tagged army, cold war, crisis, despot, deterrent, diplomacy, display, Donald Trump, global, Japan, Kim Jong-Un, Korea, MAD, militarism, military, navy, news, North Korea, nuclear, Okinawa, Pacific, Regime, South Korea, strike, threat, trident, uk, US, world.

by Toby Gill

Madness. Or, more precisely, M.A.D.ness. This is the doctrine which has governed foreign policy among major powers for the last half a century: ‘Mutually Assured Destruction’ – the idea that the possession of nuclear arms is, in of itself, the ultimate deterrent against aggression from other nuclear armed powers.

It is the reason why the UK is willing to continually bankrupt itself keeping its Trident system running. It is the reason why, in the Cold War, the US and Soviets tolerated one another pouring funding into nuclear missiles, but mutually agreed to ban investment in systems to defend against nuclear missiles, as they were too dangerous. It is the reason why many International Relations experts believe that additional nuclear weapons could actually make the world a safer place. M.A.D. is the key to understanding the ecosystem of superpowers, in the Cold War and beyond.

There is, of course, only one problem – we have no idea whether it really works.

THE FAILINGS OF GREEN GOVERNMENT – AN INTERVIEW WITH CARL SCHLYTER OF THE SWEDISH GREEN PARTY

Posted on April 16, 2017 by Norwich Radical in Inter|national and tagged Carl Schylter, caroline lucas, climate change, coalition, economy, environment, environmental sustainability, environmentalism, gdp, Global Greens, Global Greens Congress, GMOs, goal, Green, Green Party, Green Party of England and Wales, green politics, greens, Gustav Fridolin, immigration, Isabella Lovin, Jonathan Bartley, Lib Dems, Liberal Democrats, liberals, migrants, migration, military, miljopartiet de gronne, Nato, politics, privatisation, sustainability, Sweden, Swedish Green Party, swedish politics, Swedish Social Democrats, tax.

By Olivia Hanks

There were inspiring stories from Green parties all around the world at the Global Greens congress in Liverpool, but arguably one of the most uplifting came from Isabella Lövin. The Swedish Green Party spokesperson has been minister for international development cooperation since her party entered government in coalition with the Social Democrats in October 2014.

Lövin recounted how, despite being by far the junior partner in the coalition (25 seats in parliament to the Social Democrats’ 113), the Greens have brought about numerous changes in policy: “We have put forward a climate law obliging all future governments to achieve net zero emissions by 2045,” she told delegates. “We also have a broad cross-party agreement to have 100 percent renewable electricity by 2040. And, mind you – without nuclear power!”

FOR A MOMENT THERE WAS HOPE: THE GAMBIA

Posted on December 27, 2016 by Norwich Radical in Inter|national and tagged adama barrow, death penalty, dictatorship, ecowas, international, international politics, military, military coup, the gambia, yahya jammeh.

by Zoe Harding

2016 continues to provide a torrent of horrible, depressing news. On the first of December, the opposition coalition candidate Adama Barrow beat the incumbent president, Yahya Jammeh, by 43-39%, ending Jammeh’s 22 year control of the country. On the eve of the election peaceful celebrations went on throughout the Gambia, while Mr Jammeh conceded in a phone call to Mr Barrow with as much grace as one might expect from a democratic leader to his successor. Unfortunately, he didn’t stay graceful for long.

THE TRUMP CARD AND ‘MAKE AMERICA GREAT AGAIN’ — IS IT ONE OF DECLINE OR RENEWAL?

Posted on November 16, 2016 by Norwich Radical in Inter|national and tagged china, cold war, decline, economic decline, economic growth, external, foreign policy, growth, international community, make america great again, middle east, military, obama, Russia, superhero, Syria, Trump, US, US election.

by Oliver Steward

The United States is experiencing relative decline vis-a-vis in relation to other so-called ‘Great Powers’, notably China. The election of President-elect Donald Trump may navigate this transition or accelerate this relative decline in the second decade of the 21st century.

US GDP has only grown nominally at 1.5%. Some important elements can be taken to show the growing disparity and changes to the world’s two most important economic powers. As discussed in The Globalist, ‘US GDP stood at $16.8 trillion in 2013 —just about 4% larger than China’s economy…. [While]The IMF estimates that China’s GDP at purchasing power parity was $17.6 trillion at the end of 2014.’ Furthermore the US is spending $1 trillion on domestic and national security under the auspices of counter terrorism. It has spent blood and treasure in two costly wars in Iraq and Afghanistan. Continue Reading

COLD WAR MARK II: UNNECESSARY, AVOIDABLE, AND A CHALLENGE TO INTERNATIONAL SECURITY

Posted on November 1, 2016 by Norwich Radical in Inter|national and tagged Aleppo, arms, baltic states, barack obama, cold war, cold war mark 2, Crimea, defence, Eastern Europe, ideology, international relations, leninism, liberal capitalism, marxism, middle east, military, national interest, Nato, nuclear weapons, obama, power, putin, relations, Russia, Syria, Ukraine, US, USA, Vladimir Putin, West, western powers.

by Oliver Steward

Today in international relations we are witnessing a return to a new Cold War between Russia and the West. However, this Cold War Mark II is avoidable, and has only been institutionalised by the actions of both the West and Russia to antagonise one another, and rejuvenate the old Cold War which ceased since the collapse of the Soviet Union. Now in the second decade of the 21st Century it is here once again. This new Cold War is characterised by increased tensions between the West and Russia, with rhetoric particularly from the latter becoming increasingly aggressive, and the use of economic measures such as sanctions against Russia by Western powers.

The recent Russian bombardment of the besieged Syrian city of Aleppo has done nothing to ameliorate the current diplomatic tensions, only deepened it. However two important qualifications need to be made about this new Cold War that makes it different to the Cold War of the 20th Century.Continue Reading

THE LIBERTY WING: WHAT’S THE USAF DOING OVER NORWICH?

Posted on October 30, 2016 by Norwich Radical in Inter|national and tagged air force, airstrikes, army, British army, CND, cold war, drones, ethics, Europe, F-15E, France, Goldsboro, Lakenheath, Liberty Wing, military, military presence, Nato, norwich, nuclear bombs, nuclear weapons, Nukemap, Pakistan, Palomares, RAF, Russia, Strike Eagle, Syria, uk, United States Air Force, US, USA, USAF, war, war crimes, Women of Greenham Common, Yemen.

by Zoe Harding

In my last piece, while blithering about the US Presidential Race, I mentioned that one of the reasons for my interest in the politics of another country was the continued presence of their nuclear-capable aircraft in the skies over my head. This week I think I should clarify that, and take a look at what the world’s largest and most ludicrously overfunded military is up to in our neck of the woods.Continue Reading

military

HEAVENLY PALACES AND SPACE JUNKS: CHINA’S QUIET SPACE REVOLUTION

THE UNSPOKEN OCCUPATION

THE LATEST NORTH KOREAN MISSILE TEST: A NEED FOR CHANGE IN U.S. GRAND STRATEGY IN THE REGION

M.A.D. CAN’T SAVE US NOW.

FOR A MOMENT THERE WAS HOPE: THE GAMBIA

THE TRUMP CARD AND ‘MAKE AMERICA GREAT AGAIN’ — IS IT ONE OF DECLINE OR RENEWAL?

COLD WAR MARK II: UNNECESSARY, AVOIDABLE, AND A CHALLENGE TO INTERNATIONAL SECURITY

THE LIBERTY WING: WHAT’S THE USAF DOING OVER NORWICH?

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